Middle School Training, Fun, Practice, Safety, and Coaching

Points on tackling safely and effectively

It has been stated many times that a defensive teams win games, and the most fundamental part of a defensive team is performing a great tackle. Tackling can be fun and exhilarating, but done improperly and it can be dangerous. When you tackle your opponent remember three important steps:

First, you need to stop the opponent quickly so make sure to place yourself directly in front of the opponent's path. You can do this by placing your foot between your opponent's feet. Also, at this time thrust your arms backward to prepare for the next step.

Second, thrust your other foot again squarely in front of your opponent and with all the momentum that you have brought to the tackle grab your opponent. Now is the time that injuries can happen. The one golden rule in making a safe tackle is to never, ever lead with or try to tackle with the crown of your head. Tell yourself, or your players to imagine that they are biting the football.

The third and last step is to bring your hips up and drive the opponent backwards and towards the ground. Setting yourself up for this last step will ultimately prove the success in the tackle.

Making a great hand off

Learning the basics in a handoff is essential to a strong offense. The hand off can take place in many ways, but most if not all handoffs occur between the quarterback and the running back. The running back starts the hand off running towards the quarterback with his arms open creating a pocket for the quarterback to slide the football right into the running back's chest. Once the quarterback has placed the ball in the pocket, or opening, the running back immediately clamps down on the ball protecting it and holding on to it. Now that the running back has the ball when he leaves the quarterback he should remain low to the ground in order to react quickly on the field.

Some benefits to Weightlifting

Let's not forget weightlifting. It is one of the essential elements that will help you improve your game. The benefits of lifting weights are found in added strength, but more importantly it will increase your maximum power. Maximum power should be the goal of your training, because it involves muscle strength and muscle excursion during play. This exertion will help you as a football player to execute your skills on the field with speed and force. We highly recommend working with a personal trainer when weightlifting to insure that you are doing it properly, and to help you design a program that will fit your position.

The High Toss Football Catch

Because not all throws are perfect you will need to practice making catches that are high or low. As such you need to practice the high passes so that you know to react, here are some basics: Make a diamond with their forefingers and thumbs. Never catch or try to catch a ball with your body, especially a high ball. Important to look the catch through and tuck it away. When you practice a high catch you are going to perform it subconsciously on the field, so remember extend the arms, catch and follow through.

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Acting Like a Maniac When Coaching Youth Football, Should You Ever?

All people are different, God made us unique for a purpose. Hence, no two youth football coaches are going to have the same exact sidelines demeanor. Some coaches are humorous and animated, some are quietly confident, some are aggressive and loud and some are just soaking it all in and enjoying the moment. All of these expressions of who we are probably have a time and place when you are coaching youth football, but there are some expressions you should keep to yourself. Many of these won't do your reputation or your team much good.

Here are a few examples:

About 16 years ago I started coaching youth football as an assistant coach on an age 8-10 expansion team. Like most expansion teams with all rookie players and rookie coaches, we struggled that first year. We knew we were going to struggle from the start, as most expansion teams in the league usually lost every game. Our head coach was a very well respected Real Estate Executive with the largest firm in the state. He had given presentations to large crowds and had dozens of direct reports, a pretty savvy guy. Our first game our players were nervous as you might expect with all first year players. Before the game I saw the Head Coach kind of doubled over near the sidelines with a grimace on his face and a near greenish color hue on his mug. I asked him if he was sick, he said his stomach was killing him and he was nauseous. I asked him if he had been sick this week, he replied no, that it was the game that was making his stomach cramp and making him nauseous. This grown man, a big shot was letting a youth football game get to him.

The head coach leads by example, the players are always taking their cues from him and our head coach was nervous and sick before our first game. This was a time when our kids were feeling the same emotions, needless to say we got blown out that day. Our coach was so wrapped up in how the team would do, he made himself sick that day and it hurt his teams performance and enjoyment of the game.

Another youth football coach I know of actually is so emotional before his games that he goes off in his car, sits in a park and cries before the games to let all his emotions out. Obviously this guy may need some type of professional help and I wouldn't let a guy like that coach with me, but many youth football coaches let their emotions get the best of them.

While it's normal to feel some angst before games, if you're making yourself sick or are overly emotional before games you are taking this far too seriously. Do some of us get up in the morning and on the way to work think about football plays to run or ways to improve our youth football teams? Yes. Do many of us put a lot of time and effort into our teams and improving as coaches? Sure. But thinking about youth football and making yourself a better coach have little to do with letting your emotions get the best of you before a game.

We all want our teams to do well and that the kids have a great experience, but life isn't going to change dramatically and the earth won't stop spinning if you don't coach the perfect game. If you put the time in and learn from others and your own experiences and are a good football coach. your teams will eventually play well. Over time if your teams are well coached and they play well, the wins will take care of themselves. As a head football coach all you can control is your teams preparation and the schemes and adjustments, you can't control the weather, the refs or the other teams performance.

Does this mean you are obsolved if your youth football team loses? No, it means you are in control of what you can control and as long as your team executes and plays well, that's all you can hope for. In the end, playing well usually equates to winning games, but fretting over it accomplishes nothing and actually hurts your teams performance. If the kids see you aren't enjoying the experience, they aren't going to enjoy it either and a team without smiles on their faces is a team that plays poorly.

Don't forget to get a good meal in you before the game and bring some Gatorade for yourself as well. I pray on my way to games or in the morning of the game asking God for wisdom, patience and for me to have a long term focus on my actions. I also ask that God may be glorified by my actions and the actions of my team that day. I'm not sure God takes sides in youth football games, I never pray to win, but I do pray that all my kids show up and that no one from either team is injured that day. For those not so inclined, maybe looking at how you will be remembered 10 years after the game is finished is a good perspective to take on guiding your actions for the day. Of course I'm also reviewing in my mind my game plan, keys adjustments and substitution plans for the day as well.

For most of us the level of discomfort in any task is inversely related to how well we have prepared ourselves for for the task. The first few public clinics I did I was pretty nervous, I had never done any large clinics before strangers and the presentations were with new material. ( Kind of like having a new team or playing your first game) I had not had time to practice the presentations or gotten feedback as to where there would be additional questions or even if the presentations would be well received ( Kind of like not doing lots of fit and freeze reps or even having a scrimmage). As you would expect, the first few clinics were ok but they could have been much better. Now I always practice the presentations live and now even in front of crowds of 190 skeptical youth football coaches in Boston, I'm cool and confident.

As this relates to your youth football team, the better your team is prepared the less nervous you will be. The more thorough you have prepared yourself and your youth football team, the less nervous you will be. Easy enough to say, hard to do for some. Either way, once you've put in the effort into yourself and your team, you have to tell yourself that's all you can do. As the book about De LaSalle High Schools 151 game winning streak says,
"There is comfort in knowing you have given all you have". In the end you just have to let the game play out and see the results. If you've done the research and put the time in, like any other Endeavour, you're probably going to be a successful youth football coach.

This premise is probably made most clear by my teams opening game results, we are always well prepared, calm and confident. Even at our first game, our football plays look crisp, our alignments are perfect, we always have 11 on the field, we block and tackle well, we even go in motion well and are seldom penalized. We almost always win our opening games by huge margins, even against the best youth football teams in our league

Past Years Scores

We are able to do this because of our wise use of practice time, our integrated schemes and the progression nature of the teaching methods we use to develop our teams. We go into these games with a lot of confidence. Quite often we are literally months ahead of our competition that first game. We have been told many times by our opponents that our kids seem to be pretty carefree and very confident. My thoughts are we appear so because we are, the kids know they are prepared to play that first game. Our coaches are all calm, cool and confident before the games because as we all know, the kids are all taking their cues from us, that calm demeanor is part of coaching youth football well. If your coaches are fretting and worried, the kids will be too. Even if deep inside you aren't confident any of your football plays will even work that day, you need to appear so on the outside for your youth football players and your team.

For 150 free youth football practice tips from Dave or to sign up for his free newsletter: Coaching Youth Football

Dave Cisar-

Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive. His teams have won over 94% of their games in 5 different leagues. He is a Nike "Coach of the Year" designate and his book has been endorsed by Tom Osborne.

Clips of his 2006 team in action: Youth Football Plays [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-699579089183056593]

Copyright 2007 Cisar Management and winningyouthfootball.com

Football Practice - Pee Wee Coaching Practice Plan

When pee wee football leagues were first developed, coaches made players' physical training the top priority of football practice. Their thinking was that young player needed to be in top condition in order to play well in the future. While being adequately fit to play the game is still important, coaches have now shifted their priority to making sure beginners have a basic understanding of the game. By successfully training young players in the fundamentals when practicing football, coaches can know that they will continue on with a solid foundation in the sport.

Conditioning Warm-Up

Start practice with conditioning drills to get players warmed-up for the game. If practicing with equipment, this is good time for the kids to get used to the extra padding and weight. Start with push-ups and agility exercises. The tire drill is an effective agility exercise to emphasize the importance of high knees.

Next, have players do running drills. This is a good time to explain the layout of the football field. Set up running drills so that players will have to accurately read yard markers.

Coaching the Fundamentals

When first coaching, it is important to start with the basics. Remember that this might be the kids' first exposure to any organized sport, so explaining each aspect of the game is vital for the players' understanding.

• Tackling: The first priority when coaching tackling is the safety of the players. Use tackling dummies to demonstrate how to properly tackle, emphasizing using the shoulder pads to lead into the tackle and the arms to wrap around the opponent. Beginners need to understand that serious injuries can occur from leading the tackle with the head, even with the helmet on. Improper tackling technique is never acceptable.


• Blocking: After tackling, coach beginners on the basics of blocking and how to utilize proper blocking technique. Players should learn to keep their hands inside the shoulder frame and make contact with the upper body, but never head. Again, even with the helmet, serious head and neck injuries are possible.


• Plays: Coaches should take extra time to explain the basics of football plays. Understanding plays is one of the biggest challenges of youth football, but it is very important for the players' development. Use visuals to show players how a play looks on paper compared to how it is executed on the field. Each player should learn how his position will be determined by different plays. This is an opportune time to reinforce the differences between offense and defense and the different roles they perform in each play.

Wrapping it Up

Close practice by going over what was learned that day, and give players the opportunity to ask questions. They need to understand your role as coach and know that they can come to you when needed. Practice should be over only when everyone has a basic understanding of the skills covered that day.

Next step: Visit my football coaching blog for more than 468 free drills, plays, and practice tips for youth and high school teams.

Each tip is simple to learn, easy to teach, and amazingly effective for players of all ages. From basic fundamentals, to advanced skills, to in-depth coaching strategy, you'll find it all at:

http://www.football-tutorials.com/

Youth Football - The Cornerstones of Winning When Coaching Youth Football, is it Football Playbooks?

Lessons in Winning when Coaching Youth Football:

Winning in youth football isn't that much different than winning in other sports. In fact there may be value in looking at teams and coaches in other sports and see if you can learn something to take to your youth football team.

Learning From John Wooden

I'm in the process or reading a book about John Woodens "Pyramid of Success". While I'm not a huge basketball fan, I thought I could learn a thing or two from this UCLA basketball legend that won 7 Consecutive NCAA National Championships, 88 straight games along with 38 consecutive NCAA Tournament wins.

Many of you may not know that when John Wooden took over UCLA, the program was a joke. Coach Wooden's main source of income was as a Dairy Manager, UCLA rarely drew over 2,000 fans and for his first 17 years they had no on-campus place to play or practice. The facilities were the absolute worst in the conference and maybe the country, yet his teams not only succeeded, they dominated year in and year out.

What surprised me most about coach Wooden's approach to the game was his absolute disinterest in the opposition. While he did study some film, he studied far less of it than any of his peers. Coach Wooden was of the strong opinion that his teams would do what they did best and spend their valuable practice time preparing to execute Coach Wooden's philosophy.

Don't Frett the Opposition, Worry About Yourself

In this book, player after player reiterated what Coach Wooden had said about the opposition. His players were very consistent in the notion they cared little about who they played or even the style they played against. In some of the games the UCLA players didn't know the names of the opposing players or even what conference the opposing team was from. This wasn't because UCLA didn't respect the opposition, it was because they truly felt, it really didn't matter who they were playing against, they were going to execute. UCLA players were PLAYING AGAINST THEMSELVES, they were playing against their potential, not against an opposing team. UCLA was prepared against any philosophy, system or contingency.

These UCLA players were very confident, not in their personal abilities but in the team, the coach and the system. These UCLA teams and players had a calm aura of confidence and invincibility about themselves that served them well in close games and intimidated the heck out of most of the teams that played them.

I see so many youth football coaches scouting and worrying about the opposition when their own team is struggling with it's own execution. I watched one Louisiana youth coaches game films last season. While he claimed to play in a "tough league" where all the coaches scouted each other, I found little to scout. The execution and alignment of all the teams in this league were atrocious, something I had not even seen in rookie in-house rec level leagues here locally. All of these coaches would have been best served teaching their kids their systems and fundamentals, and not worried one iota about their opposition. The scouting time was time poorly spent.

Nebraska National Championship Example

My friend Jerry Tagge said the very same thing about the University of Nebraska football teams of 1970 and 1971. They went a combined 24-0-1 and won back to back National Championships. Jerry was the starting quarterback on both of those teams and the team leader on and off the field. When asked what was the most enduring memory of that 1971 Season which saw NU outscore its opposition 507-104 and win the National Title Game over #2 Alabama 38-6 Jerry didn't hesitate for a moment he said " We knew we were going to win every game before we stepped on the field".

Jerry said they had so much confidence in themselves, their team, their coach and their system, the only question in their mind was how much were they going to win by. While many of their games were huge blowouts, they did trail #2

Oklahoma a number of times in that game, still referred by most as the "Game of the Century". Jerry said at no time did they ever panic, they knew somehow, someway they were going to win, they stayed very upbeat and confident throughout the entire game. He said; "We just knew we were going to win", in his mind and the teams mind, the game was a foregone conclusion.

As a young kid, I was at every one of Jerry's home games in 1970 and 1971. We would get to the games very early we would go down near the field and watch the players warm up. That seems so long ago and those players all seemed so huge back then to a 10 year old boy. We would go down under the stadium and watch the players come out from the locker room for the kickoff from behind ropes. Many of the players would give you a quick hand slap if you leaned over far enough and smiled real big. What I remembered most is how calm these guys were and that none of them did any jumping up and down or hollering, like you see so much of today on TV and even in youth and High School football games. The NU players were always so eerily quiet, some would crack a smile or two, but there was zero rah rah stuff going on. It always seemed like in those days the team that was playing Nebraska often played in an inverse relationship to how much emotion they displayed. Oklahoma was one of the rare teams back in that day that could consistently compete with Nebraska and they weren't rah rah either, they were equally calm and confident.

60-3 in the 90's

There was an era in Nebraska football from 1993-1997 that the team went an amazing 60-3, winning 3 National Titles along the way and barely missing another. In those days teams would often lie down for Nebraska. What I remember most about those teams is there was zero fanfare, no players had their faces painted up, no one was jumping up and down, no one yelled, it was just Darth Vader walking down the tunnel. Someone was going to get the heck kicked out of them that day and it certainly wasn't going to be Nebraska. Quite often the other team looked like little wide eyed lambs being led to slaughter, you could feel it in the air. Sometimes an opposing team would show a bit of false nervous bravado, but back in those days most of them had those bambie eyes that said " I'm not sure whats going to happen next, but I doubt if it's going to be good for me personally". By the end of the second quarter they were looking for a "soft spot" to land to use a boxing term. If you know anyone that was in the stadium back then, just ask them. No offense to the opposition, they were always given a standing ovation by the NU fans after the game, win lose or draw. Maybe it was our way of showing our appreciation for the opposition enduring the carnage and surviving.

Were the Nebraska players cocky, arrogant or disrespectful? Not at all, they were just keenly confident in their preparation, scheme, coaches and team. They had no reason to act like clowns, they were just going to do what they knew they could do, game over, move on to the next goal. Now of course we are in a different day, the man has been seen behind the curtain, the aura is gone, Mike Tyson has been knocked out and the giant has been found to have feet of clay. But in those days, that is what it was and those same monsters exist in youth football today.

Applied to Youth Football

What can we as youth football coaches do to inspire such confidence in our youth football kids?

I can say with a great deal of confidence that it can be done. I've done it in the most ridiculous of circumstances. I have taken teams into situations where we faced enormous odds: in 2003 My Age 8-10 Team played and convincingly beat two age 11-12 League Championship teams, one at a 10,000 seat College Stadium down 7-0 and severely undersized and outmanned. In 2004 I took an all rookie rural team to an 11-0 season and beat the League Champions of a much bigger league where more than half their kids were veteran players. In 2005 I took the same team of age 8-10 non-select kids ( took all comers) and beat (30-6) a huge Inner-City Select Team that chose from over 150 kids and had not lost in 3 years. They started at least 5 kids who weighed over 150 pounds and had one monster at over 210, we on the other hand had just 2 players over 100 pounds. That same year we beat a team (mercy ruled) that had not lost in 5 years ( started our 4th team quarterback in that game) and beat another Omaha select team (36-6) that were champions of their league. In 2006 I took an age 8-10 team to a tournament in

Kansas City and we blew out a team that started 5-6 kids in excess of 150 pounds including 2 huge defensive tackles over 190, mind you our starting center weighed just 71 pounds at the time (usual starter was out). In 2007 my age 10-11 team played a Malcom team that during the National Anthem size up had 8 "striped" players to our 1. Striped means the player weighs over 128 pounds and must wear a stripe on his helmet. Not only did this team have us outnumbered 8-1 on striped players, but their stripers were huge, with at least 3 of the starters weighing over 180. Our lone striped player weighed 148 then our next biggest players were 115 and 105. In every one of these games we were outmanned but the kids were very confident.

How did we do it? I promise you it had nothing to do with paying much attention to our opposition. Had we done that I'm not sure we would have had the same amount of success. In practice we waste no time on frivolous non football activities and execute a core offense and defense to perfection against most known contingencies. We know how to align our defense on every offense and how to respond to the typical tactics used to stop our offense. Our kids are confident in the scheme, their assignments, their technique, the execution and the coaches. We expect them to do well and they expect it as well. For those of you that have the game films you know our kids don't get very excited on touchdowns or big plays, they expect them to happen, same for the coaching staff, You don't see any jumping up and down or fists in the air, it is expected, quiet calm confidence. We always talk to the kids in past terms "After we score our 4th touchdown remember to XYZ", "After the game is over remember the other team drove a long way to be here and will be very disappointed, don't jump up and down and make a big deal out of the win and make them feel bad, we expect to play well, it shouldn't be any kind of surprise" etc. I've been told our kids act a lot more confident than their outward appearance should justify.

Before games we face away from the competition and even arrive very late, we do just a 30 minute pre-game while our opposition do 60-90 minutes. Our kids seem to be a bit oblivious to who we play, rural, suburban inner-city, big, out of town etc, by ignoring the opposition and worrying about ourselves, we have created that environment.We are always in competition with ourselves, our potential, not the opposing team. Match that up with our "easy count" play mapping system, adjustments and key identifiers and the need to scout every opponent is negated. Do we scout our opposition? Very little, maybe one game a year, but they scout the heck out of us and it hasn;t seemed to help too much even with the film, book and trading information between themselves.

Once you have it rolling, the aura feeds upon itself and can include things like Championship Banners, Trophy Displays and other examples that reinforce the inevitability of your teams success in your players minds and the minds of their opponents.

Dave Cisar-

Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized. He is a Nike "Coach of the Year" Designate and speaks nationwide at Coaches Clinics. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington.

With over 15 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach, Dave has developed a detailed systematic approach to developing youth players and teams. His personal teams to using this system to date have won 94% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

To Sign up for his free tips newsletter or to see his 325 free tips go to: Football Plays

A Video Taste of Dave's teams:
Football Playbooks

Offensive Line

The Spread Offense For Youth Football? Not If You Are Coaching Non-Select Kids

Make Sure Your Data is Real World When Deciding on an Offensive Direction

I attended a "youth football" session at a coaches clinic in the last 3 months that still troubles me. We won't go into where the clinic was or who the speaker was, that isn't important, what is important is the issue of how we as coaches interpret data presented to us. At this clinic, the data was totally bogus and flawed, which made the speakers premise that "ALL" youth football teams could run his system incorrect.

There are many very talented youth football coaches out there that know their stuff. They may have coached youth ball for decades and clearly understand what average kids can and can't do. They understand that even with the best coaching in the planet and even 4-5 days a week practice, there are certain things most average skilled kids just can't do.

Decisions, Decisions

On the other hand there are also plenty of dads that get pressed into coaching youth football that are uncertain what they should be able to get out of the typical grouping of non-select football players. Some of this group sell the kids short and don't get as advanced as they should, but many others think their kids are mini NFL players and put them into schemes and techniques that the average player has very little chance of succeeding with. The good coaches with all the experience usually sit right in the middle of these two extremes and put their kids in a system that is the right "fit".

Clinic Sales Job

Now back to the coaches clinic, the speaker seemed to be a very articulate, well educated, well meaning person who knew the game well. He played Division I football and had a fairly well organized presentation, he had credibility. His topic was the spread passing game for youth football. His premise was that anyone could run a spread passing game down to 9 years old and be successful with it, all it took was a commitment and lots of practice. He was preachin it and the first time 9 year old head coach sitting in front of me was nodding his "amens" and buying it hook line and sinker.

The presenter demonstrated some well thought out fundamentals for youth quarterbacks and even had some nice film of an impressive 10 year old passer. The coach did admit that he had coached this player since he was 7 years old including extensive individual off site training in the off-season. Now I don't know about your teams, but I just don't have year round access to my players or the time to individually coach my kids aggressively year-round.

Here's Where it Gets Tricky

The presenter also showed extensive team film clips that not only showed some very well executed spread passing plays, but some very nice zone blocking runs as well. The unusual thing about these clips were that every player had a different colored helmet on.

Not a Fair Comparison

When I politely asked him why the helmets were different colored, he said because this was an all-star team and each player used his own teams helmet. They were also clips of 13-14 year olds. Come to find out, the players on this all- star team had been chosen from a cast of thousands.

He didn't have any minimum play players to find playing time for, he had the very best player from 40+ teams. Imagine what you could do if YOU had the best player from every team in your area. Or imagine if you could clone your best player and make 40 more of him. What could you run then? What 13-14 year olds can do is also a bit different than what 9 year old rookies can do

The Real World Not Fantasy Lan

Not only does the average youth coach have to find some playing time for every player on our teams, but we probably have to start several kids on our offensive line that would best be described as minimum play players. In zone blocking one of the key premises is for your offensive linemen to get movement on a double team, come off the double team and block the near linebacker in space.

Now I don't know about your league, but in the 6 that I've coached in the other teams best, fastest and most athletic kids are playing linebacker. In zone blocking my minimum play player ( least athletic player on the team) offensive lineman is going to block the other teams best player, in space, on the move after getting movement on a double team? Really, in real life, not in an imaginary well intentioned parallel universe? Not on your typical non-select youth football team on planet earth. Do we have kids that can make that block? Sure, but not very many that can do it consistently and zero of my even most aggressively coached minimum play players.

Be Careful

Be careful what data you use to determine what you should and shouldn't be running in youth football. Don't be enamored with clips of some football plays being run well by a bunch of hand picked "studs". All-star teams selected from casts of thousands are not the example most of youth coaches can learn from. I've only coached "select" football one year, in 2003, it is a different animal, but even then we only chose from about 150 kids, not thousands.

Almost anyone can put together a string of highlights if they coach long enough. That's why we sell complete season DVDs of my teams. Non- select kids, every snap of every game for the season so you can see for yourself what average kids ( and minimum play players) with average amounts of practice time can do over the course of an entire season.

Let me say I don't think this coach is evil or meant to intentionally misguide coaches into doing something that had little chance of succeeding, he just doesn't clearly understand the boat most of us are in. Please don't misquote me, I'm a big believer in the pass, my teams have often led the league in passing touchdowns. Heck my age 7-9 team threw for 11 touchdowns last season in just 9 games. What I'm saying is it is extremely rare for non-select youth teams to move the ball consistently using zone blocking and spread passing without a "freak" grouping of players.

Dave Cisar-

Dave is a Nike "Coach of the Year" Designate and speaks nationwide at Coaches Clinics. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His personal teams using this system to date have won 94% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

To Sign up for his free tips and drills newsletter or to view 425 free youth football coaching tips go to: Football Plays

A Video Taste of Dave's teams: Youth Football

Fundametals of Coaching Youth Football

1) Understand the Game - It's imperative that your team understands the basic rules and tactics of the game of football. And that has to start at the top - YOU.
If you really explore our site, you'll find a wealth of information all in one place on subjects such as football plays, drills, fundamentals and much more.

You should also seek out books on coaching football, attend football clinics, watch football games on TV and talk to other coaches with more experience. Search out information through as many sources as you can.

2) Character - If you want your players to carry themselves with a high moral code, you need to show them the way. You must show them what a true role model is. How do you do this?

Start by being consistent. When you say you're going to do something, be sure you follow through with it. Be sure your team always sees you under control no matter the situation. Show your team that any situation can be handled by staying in control of your emotions.

That doesn't mean you have to sacrifice any of your fire or intensity. It just means handling all the things that come up in practice and games without flying off the handle. If the coach can't show character, how can the players be expected to?

Character is also shown when you can admit you're wrong when you make mistakes. Your team will develop much more respect for you if you apologize when you make mistakes rather than trying to set yourself above the standards you expect of them. It's OK when this happens. You're human and we all make mistakes. Just don't try to cover them up or hide from them. You'll be amazed what that'll mean to your players.

3) Communication - Seek out all the info you can to improve your communication skills.

4) Make it Fun - Being able to enjoy the process is vital to a team's success. If practice is all drudgery and no fun, you'll lose your players quickly. Strive to strike a balance between serious learning and a laugh or two.

Allow for a little humor when mistakes are made. When players want to laugh and get loose once in awhile, take it as a sign that they're having fun, not that they're being disrespectful. Keep practices fun and keep all players involved in the process.

5) Be Positive - Nothing will kill your players more than a negative attitude. A positive attitude will keep you above the competition.

Yes, bad things will happen. Your players will make mistakes at the absolute worst times. You'll make bad calls or decisions. Above all else, keep things in a positive light and move on. The only things you can control are you attitude and your actions. Everything else is outside of your control, so don't get negative when those things upset you.

Make sure your experience coaching football is an over-all positive one for both you and your players.

Improve Your Communication Skills when Coaching Football
Some of the best football coaching tips we can give you involve communication. You can know everything there is to know about football - the plays, drills, fundamentals, etc. If you can't communicate effectively, though, you're headed for a tough time. When coaching youth football.

Former NFL Quarterback offers low priced youth football coaching dvds, quarterback training dvds, a free football coaching newsletter at http://www.footballtools.com